Thursday, 3/27/08:
For our return Auto Train trip, we arrived in the Sanford area at 11:40, and went right to seminole Towne Center to have lunch. I called Julie and found out that the preceeding #52 was running over 7 hours late, and was due in Lorton around 5 PM. Also #53 from the previous evening, most likely representing our consist, arrived in Sanford 10:52 AM, fairly (but not as seriously) late. That is when I texted Alan and he told me about the derailment in Virginia. I foresaw myself driving all the way, and decided we had better get over to the Auto Train terminal as soon as possible just in case they were turning people away.
When we arrived, this time was a long line at the greeter's booth. Ii continued to worry that they were telling each person the train was annulled. Luckily everyone was admitted to the station and we went through the routine of leaving the car. Then when we went inside to check-in, the line was extremely long, wrapping around within the indoor waiting room. The overwhelming majority of our many fellow passengers were snowbirds.
At the check-in desk, the clerk made two terrible mistakes which I luckily caught. One has to wonder how many senior citizens might have been taken advantage of, had they not been paying attention like I was. I was asked which dinner seating we wanted, and I clearly said, 5 PM. I had been worried that with the large number of elderly passengers the early seating might have been sold out. However, she went and gave me the 7 PM seating. Worse than that, somehow she put us in the 5211 coach, seats 49 & 50, when my tickets were for Sleeping car 5245, Room 7. I had to wonder if the coach passengers in that seat would have accidentally gotten my roomette!
When boarding call came at 2:35, pax were allowed to board all coaches and all sleepers... .except our 5245 car. I saw mechanics doing something both inside and out, and said, OH NO. From experience, I knew it was either too hot, too cold, or we had no toilets. We finally were cleared to board 10 minutes later, and it was immediately evident that "too cold" was the winner.
Our attendant, Becke (pronounced Becky) who had been at the door, didn't officially greet us until 3:41, almost an hour after boarding. Good thing I knew about the snacks in the lounge car, because a lot of the other passengers did not go until the food was almost gone. What Becke did positively that Dexter (our southbound attendant) hadn't was that she asked if we wanted a wakeup call the next morning (although our choices were only 6:30 or 7 AM).
Consist was exactly the same set of equipment we had on the southbound trip, however the passenger section was operating in the reverse order. Same 3 engines too.
This train left Sanford late, at 4:15 PM. Not bad, and not an insurmountable deficit. Most of our neighbors were complaining of the cold, and Becke came by with a story about the car's temperature being controlled by outside air. Strange how the outside air around our car was so much cooler than the outisde air around the rest of the train!
Since we were in the other group of three sleepers this time, both of our meals took place in the far half of the lounge car rather than the diner. One waitress, named Linda, handled our dinner very proficiently considering she was working alone in this car. A few times a coworker came out and helped deliver her meals, but she handled the orders for dinner, desert, wine, and soft drinks extremely well, getting everyone through the process within an hour.
Soon it was time to leave our meat locker once more and watch the 7:15 showing of the movie, "Dan in Real Life". It began just as we were passing through Folkston, GA. During the early part of the flick, we were battling sun glare as the sun was setting.
Once again we had arranged for our beds to be put down at 8:30, so they were ready for us when we returned from the movie. Soon we retired for the evening. Although we had a 6:30 AM wakeup, I set my cell phone alarm for 6:20 so we could get a slight jump on others in case breakfast was crowded. Luckily the temperature of our car had regulated while we were out watching the movie, so it was no longer an issue.
But my sleep was interrupted around 4 AM by a combination of very bad CSX track conditions, and the fact that said cell phone had been knocked down behind the bed. I spent a lot of time trying to get it out, and I could not fall asleep again knowing the alarm would go off under the bed and I could not be able to silence it. A few times I had to actually lay on the hallway floor in order to be able to get my full arm under the entire bed, but it was to no avail.
When we finally were officially awake, having heard both the alarm behind the bed and Becke's knock, I asked her to make up our room right away. Once the lower bed was a seat once more, it was easy for her to find and reach the cell phone.
Breakfast was once again handled very well by Linda.
We got to the Richmond area around 7 AM, which was satisfactory considering the official 9:29 AM arrival time. However, we soon began crawling at 10 mph due to the derailment, and we did not regain speed for well over an hour until we had passed the site of the accident.
Arrival was at 10:23 AM, almost an hour late. Overall, not too bad considering that some trains were cancelled or detoured.
Again I had a major issue on this train with the public address system. Part of turning the train around should be making sure that all roomettes and bedrooms are tuned to the correct channel so that everyone can hear the safety announcements and the welcome message from the Chief of On Board Services. Our hallway loudspeakers were very low in volume, and I actually missed almost the entire welcome message. I knew to listen for it, but with the large number of elderly and first-time passengers on board, I am sure that many didn't even realize that they had missed it. Those making the announcements to the entire train don't know that they are not being heard in other cars. There were also a lot of passengers who did not show up when their dinner seatings were called, most likely because they never heard them. Besides people missing their meals, there is a definite safety issue if critical messages are going unnoticed.
Armed with the knowledge that there is no way to know when one might receive their car off the train, I still believe that there
is a rule that says, "Bring Kevin Korell's car off among the last". We did not leave the Lorton terminal until 11:50.
With a lunch stop on Kent Island, MD (across the bay from Annapolis), we arrived home shortly after 4 PM Friday afternoon.
Edited by KevinKorell, 30 March 2008 - 04:30 PM.
)
Friday 3/21 we drove down to Springfield, VA and stayed at the Hilton.
Saturday 3/22 we took Metro Blue Line up to Crystal City for lunch, then returned to Franconia/Springfield.
Arrived Auto Train terminal around 1 PM. Drove right up to greeter, and then right up to front of covered area to leave the car. I could tell immediately we had a light load just by the relatively small number of passengers around.
Checked right in, and got our coveted 5 PM dinner seating. We would be in the 5342 car.
Consist of power and passenger portion of train:
6 Locomotive
154 Locomotive
39 Locomotive
38041 Diner
38067 Diner
33102 Lounge
34128 Coach
34129 Coach
34131 Coach
32116 Sleeper
32087 Sleeper
32505 All-Bedroom sleeper
38053 Diner
33100 Lounge
32503 All-Bedroom sleeper
32089 Sleeper
32114 Sleeper
39001 Transition sleeper
26 auto carriers.
Rolled forward at 3:15 PM to have auto carriers coupled to rear. Departed Lorton 3:32 PM.
We had a problem hearing the trainline announcements from the Chief of On Board Services. It was weak out in the hallway, and by the time we had tuned in the correct channel in our roomette, we had missed a lot. I did catch a little slip of the tounge when the Chief said we would be refueling the diner in Florence (as opposed to refueling the engine and restocking the diner).
Sleeper attendant's name was Dexter. He did a good job, nothing extraordinary.
In diner, the 2-person crew in our section did a very good job in handling everyone. Catrelle took the dinner and desert orders, while Darlene handled the drinks.
Movie was "Game Plan". Watched from 7:15 PM until it ended at 9:02. When we got back to our room, the beds had been made up by Dexter as previously arranged for 8:30. We prepared for bed and soon retired.
Next thing I knew, my cell phone alarm was going off at 6 AM. By the time we got ready, it was 6:30 or so before we went to breakfast. We finished our continental meal in 20 minutes, during which time Dexter had turned our room back to day mode.
By this time it was getting light outside, and it appeared that we were in Florida, and well beyond Jacksonville already. At 7 AM the announcement came that we were due at Sanford between 8:15 and 8:30 AM. We had left early and remained early throughout the trip.
We actually came to a stop at Auto Train's switch off the mainline at 7:47 AM. We had to wait almost 20 minutes while a "security briefing" was taking place. We moved up past the station building, and then ten minutes later at 8:35 or so we were able to detrain.
It took 1 hour 15 minutes to get my car, so we were on our way by 9:50 AM Sunday morning.
Have they messed with my favorite rooms on the Auto Train? re: "All" Bedroom Sleeper.
